Several almost forgotten Nigerian players were back in the headlines this past weekend, as Sadiq Umar continued his amazing burst of form in Spain and Rabiu Ibrahim popped up in Slovakia, while Moses Simon returned with a bang in France, megasportsarena.com reports.
While the array of Nigerian players in the English Premier League failed to hit major headlines, but were comfortable in collective efforts that helped their teams with remarkable results, the individual flair came across the Channel, with Umar and Moses leading the burst of goals.
In France, Simon ended his goal drought by netting for FC Nantes in a 1-1 draw with Sporting Dijon at Stade de la Beaujoire-Louis Fonteneau on Sunday, as the Super Eagles’ winger ended a lull off having not scored in six league games.
Simon ended that poor run when he broke the deadlock in the 24th minute from the penalty spot, after Jonathan Panzo conceded a penalty by tripping Renaud Emond and the referee decided to stay with the initial call after a VAR check.
Nantes were denied all three points when Moussa Konate equalised for the visitors in the 54th minute, but it was a day of personal satisfaction for Simon, who is back to full fitness after recovering from an adductor problem that saw him miss three matches in November.
In Spain, Umar continued his mesmerizing form in front of goal, as the former AS Roma of Italy, Glasgow Rangers of Scotland and Partizan Belgrade of Serbia leggy lad scored for Almeria in the third consecutive league game and gave his side a 3-1 home win against Malaga.
The 23-year-old Rio 2016 Olympic Games bronze medalist, who had previously scored winning goals in consecutive Spanish lower division league games against Alcorcon and Real Zaragoza, looked good in his 12th appearance for the hosts, and needed just 11 minutes to open scoring.
Umar fired home from a Francisco Villalba assist to give the hosts a 1-0 lead and net his sixth goal of the campaign, as he featured for 82 minutes before his substitution, yet gained a match rating of 7, completed 86% of his passes, won three duels and achieved two key tackles.
In Slovakia, Rabiu Ibrahim got off the bench to score his third league goal of the campaign for Slovan Bratislava and helped the league leaders to their fifth consecutive win, as they spanked Spartak Trnava, who had Yusuf Bamidele at the head of their attack.
Ibrahim replaced David Holman with 17 minutes to go, but he made the most of his time on the pitch by scoring his side’s third goal five minutes from time to wrap up a 3-0 win, which sees Bratislava extend their lead atop the log to five points, while the former Golden Eaglets’ dazzler took his tally to three goals from 10 games.
In Norway, Moses Ebiye ended the 2020 first division campaign with two goals on the final day and helped Hamkam to a 3-1 win away at Oygarden FK, against who the 23-year-old started his 20th league game of the campaign.
With the visitors needing results elsewhere to go their way to sneak into the playoffs position, they wasted no time and took the lead after 20 minutes through Jonas Enkerud, before Ebiye netted his fifth goal of the campaign six minutes after the hour mark to make it 2-0.
Aune Selland Heggebo then halved the deficit for the hosts on 57 minutes, but Ebiye added his second of the game after the hour mark to restore Hamkam’s two-goal lead at 3-1, before making way for Jarmud Öyen, and the visitors held on to end the season with an away victory.
In United States of America, Fanendo Adi also ended the season on a high, as he won his second Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup after Columbus Crew defeated Seattle Sounders 3-0 in the final, but the 30-year-old attacker, who won his first championship with Portland Timbers five years ago, was an unused substitute in Saturday’s game.
It was a collective evening of delight though, for Adi, who had a total of 12 appearances mainly as a substitute, as he joined in celebrations over another glorious campaign for the lad, who has previously played for Cincinnati of USA, FC Copenhagen of Denmark, SK Trencin of Slovakia as well as Tavriya, Dynamo Kiev and Metalurh Donetsk of Ukraine.
